


higher (heavy)

by tjstar



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Blood, Friendship/Love, Head Injury, Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sickfic, Trench Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 09:57:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tjstar/pseuds/tjstar
Summary: “Uh, we have an incident on stage.”Heck, they do.





	higher (heavy)

He can’t find the floor.

As ridiculous as it sounds, Josh’s foot sinks into a pitch blackness; he’s trying to get a grasp against his riser, but it’s hard to coordinate himself when his mind is still blurred by the outbreaks of music and Tyler’s voice in the distance.

The rehearsal is almost over.

And Josh doesn’t think twice, he never does, he just lets his body slide down, backwards, and —

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the car a few feet away and a side of the riser as his head gets slammed against it. There are static noises in his ears that he hasn’t planned to hear, there’s a weird connection he hasn’t planned to feel. The sound is truly sickening, and Josh’s teeth clench and grind against each other, he’s suddenly so afraid to lose one of them.

“Uh, we have an incident on stage.”

Heck, they do.

 _They do_ , Josh thinks — how _stupid_ of him — the stars falling out of his eyes are bright enough to light up his surroundings. Second later, Josh understands that it’s just a flashlight, their crew members are coming to rescue. Or well, they’re picking him up even though he doesn’t remember fainting, this is a strange sensation, his face is numb. There are distorted people; Josh blinks repeatedly, he hears the word ‘blood’ and reaches his hand for his head.

They don’t let him do this, they pin his arm down, but the lights snatch the word they said.

Blood.

Just a few drops on Josh’s fingertips, the side of his head is wet and his neck is sticky; he looks down, and they ask him if he is fully conscious. Josh nods, the pain rolls forward along with the red trickles on his torso. Almost like a bloody map on his skin.

“Who the Hell turned the illumination off? I’m asking you, no, I’m asking _you_. Really, what the—”

Oh no, Josh thinks. Somebody else’s blood is gonna be shed pretty soon. _Oh no_.

It takes only a second, but Tyler’s anger is the worst case scenario — and Tyler is still on the bridge, he’s seen Josh’s awkward fall — Josh wants to roll his eyes, but he knows it wouldn’t look healthy.

“Get him to the medics,” Tyler waves his hand as if they don’t know what to do.

There’s a towel in between Josh’s palm and his busted head, his moves are automatic, but he’s pressing really hard. He’s getting filmed, he throws his head back and sees Mark with his camera on his shoulder. He’s just got this new Panasonic EVA1 so he’s filming more than usual, and this footage would be unique. Mark’s face is half covered with a black bandana since he doesn’t want to be noticeable with a yellow one.

Josh gives him a slight nod, a slight _yes I’m okay, keep doing your job_.

He hears a muffled barking.

Jim was the first and only living creature who has actually managed to pee on his drums because he thought it was not only Josh’s territory. Josh wasn’t mad at him.

Josh isn’t mad at anyone, unlike Tyler who’s finally gotten down, and a tiny _oh no_ crosses Josh’s brain again. Along with pain. He’s still bleeding, but he hasn’t gotten a chance to check himself in the mirror yet.

“Wow.”

He sees the answer written on Tyler’s face in bold red letters.

“I couldn’t find the floor,” Josh informs him.

They begin to walk, slowly, on the brink of embarrassing Josh even more.

“I swear I’m gonna fire somebody today,” Tyler says. Matter-of-factly, as if he’s talking about the weather.

Josh groans and leans against the security guard’s shoulder.

 

***

The towel is black so the stains of Josh’s blood are almost unnoticeable; he sits in the armchair and there’s the dude crouching down in front of him — just like _Tyler this morning_ , and Josh is shirtless just like he was this morning, but the circumstances are different.  

“Any dizziness?”

Josh forces himself not to blink as the light pokes him in the left eye, then in the right, then again.

“No.”

He doesn’t even feel queasy when he’s not looking at the blood, holding the towel against his head clumsily. He hears the huffing from behind Mark’s shoulder and shivers — the storm is coming, and Tyler’s tapping his foot on the floor nervously.

There should’ve been lasers, their tech failed, and it’s so unfair — Josh feels like it’s his own fault, just like his wound. The medic makes Josh lower his hand, he’s shining a flashlight onto the sore, making the blood on Josh’s pale torso look even brighter.

And fueling up Tyler’s rage.

“Help Josh,” he _orders_. “I’m gonna find out whose mistake it was.”

He sounds like he wants to destroy the whole venue, as if suing people is his daily routine.

“Just a scratch,” Josh says, he hasn’t seen his injury.

He doesn’t want Tyler’s imbalance to make him hurt anybody. Josh’s bare shoulders are freezing, his heart turns to a metronome; he can’t avoid going to the emergency room, there are no _what ifs_ or _buts._

Josh wishes he could stay on the riser a few minutes ago.

“It could be worse,” the medic says, turning the flashlight off.

Josh can feel security guard’s heavy glance on the back of his head.

“He’s got concussions in his past.”

Tyler’s voice interrupts him.

“So what? I know it, and that he’s got his nose broken at least twice, would it make him feel better now?”

Josh covers his face with his hands, propping his elbows on his knees. Jim’s barking turns to a high whining; Josh wants to know why they don’t let him in.

“Turn off the camera,” he mumbles. “Please.”

Mark pulls his bandana down.

“Are you sure you’re okay, man?”

“Yes. I’m actually glad it happened this way, but I just need Tyler to stop acting like this,” Josh looks at the floor through his fingers; he doesn’t know how his blood could get there. “Tyler, please. I know you’re pissed, but. So much pressure, man. Stop it.”

He feels a towel being pressed to his head again, the medic hands him his shirt.

“I’m just concerned. We’re going on tour and you’re gonna do backflips and stuff everyday,” Tyler tries to speak calm and Josh tries not to lean to his touch.

If the Doctor will say that it’s better for them to delay tour _because of Josh,_ Josh is gonna have a cardiac arrest and Tyler would kick him out of the band permanently.

 

***

They don’t have a seat for Tyler in the car; Tyler pretends he’s not offended, suggesting Josh to grab a sickness bag because _you can never be so sure_. Josh appreciates Tyler’s care with a fake smile and gets slapped on his hand as soon as he tries to touch a temporary set of sterile bandages on his head.

“It’s like I’m leaving for a war,” Josh laughs tiredly.

Tyler scoffs.

“Better wear a helmet instead of your beanie.”

He opens his mouth to say something else but contains himself. The security car is full of people already; venue’s driver, Mark, their guard, and a medic are there, and Josh thinks it’s too much. He doesn’t know how he’s supposed to explain what happened to his head. Josh shrugs and climbs into the front seat; he is about to jump out of it immediately as Mark almost shoves his camera into his face again.

“Miss him already?”

Killing Mark for his sassiness can definitely be one of the items on Josh’s to-do list.

“Hope he won’t bite anyone there.”

“Are we talking about Jim or Tyler?”

 Josh coughs.

“Jim doesn’t bite.”

 

***

The nurse keeps giving him eloquent glances as she’s doing the same manipulations, unwrapping the bandages and changing them. Mark asks him if it’s okay to start filming again; Josh nods wordlessly. A specialist urges him to do a CT scan and Josh’s anxiety crawls out of the darkest hole again. He didn’t even take his phone from the dressing room, so he doesn’t have a single thing to distract himself with.

The wound on Josh’s head is all cleaned up and bandaged neatly, it stings a little, but _no stitches required_. Josh pulls his beanie on his head just to look more tough and less ridiculous as he drums his fingers against the armrest.

Mark stops filming the hallway and flops down onto the seat next to Josh.

“I bet it’s gonna be okay.”

Josh tries not to think what would happen if the nearest shows get cancelled. Then he thinks he’s gonna make himself sick or give himself a full-blown panic attack and tries not to think harder. They don’t talk much, sharing one shade of mood on the two of them, then including their medic and a security guard, and Josh thinks that the level of their premature grief is too high.

Josh’s head is itching, he wonders if it’s gonna scar — his now short hair covers a whole nothing. He thinks of those times when skateboarding would land him to a hospital bed for a day or two — his current state has nothing in common with those disturbing memories.

“Hello again, Mr. Dun.”

The Doctor looks at Josh as if he wants to make sure Josh remembers him and his last name. He asks him about his incident for the fifth time, he touches Josh’s bandages again, makes him stand up and tilt his head. He holds a clipboard with Josh’s results and a pen, and is obviously keeping a dramatic pause.

“No internal bleeding, no concussion.”

Josh’s support group applauds behind his back.

Which means, he can go on tour, all of them can.

“Thanks, Doc,” Josh shakes the man’s hand. A little cliche never hurts, he’s somehow proud he’s able to handle the situation.

He hopes he’s not gonna lose his bandages while sleeping tonight.

They leave the hospital building relieved, finding one more car parked next to theirs and finding more visitors, and one of them has four legs and a wiggly tail —

“He-e-y!”

Josh isn’t allowed to run tonight, but nothing can stop Jim — he’s growing up too fast, his paws push Josh’s shoulders, he’s forced to step backwards, right into the guard’s embrace. Jim licks at Josh’s face, his ears, nuzzles the side of his beanie, smelling blood there and giving Josh a perplexed look, Josh reads it like _‘who hurt my friend?’. No one,_ Josh thinks. _Your friend is just an idiot._ Mark takes a picture on his iphone as if one camera isn’t enough. Sometimes Josh thinks Mark is paranoid.

Josh gets caught under the armpits as he stumbles again.

“Don’t hit your head again, dude.”

“Couldn’t live an hour without your advice,” Josh replies, still petting Jim. “Got my pills prescribed.”

He doesn’t need to explain anything anymore, because _Tyler_ is here now, Brad is here now.

“Jim wanted to see you,” he says. “Tyler promised to be a good boy so we took him with us.”

Still behind him, Tyler presses his lips to Josh’s ear just to whisper —

“Josh’s so good at treating _good boys,_ right?”

There’s something he could say during an interview.

Josh thinks he’s ready for this.

**Author's Note:**

> i need it  
> \---  
> [thanks rein](http://searein.tumblr.com/post/179486966827/x)


End file.
